Mother
Mother Episode Number: Season 4, Episode 21 Directed By: Ron Underwood Air Date: May 3, 2015 Previous Episode: Lily Next Episode Operation Mongoose, Part 1 "Mother" is the twenty-first episode of Season 4 of the American fariytale/drama series Once Upon a Time, which aired on May 3, 2015. In this episode, Emma Swan reunites Lily with Maleficent, Isaac must find a new ally as Gold's heart grows darker, and Regina and Robin Hood must deal with Zelena's pregnancy. Back in the Enchanted Forest, Regina is reunited with Cora upon her return from Wonderland, but questions her mother's intentions as to why she wants to "help" her. Plot 'Opening Sequence' The dragon form of Lily is featured in the forest. 'In the Character's Past' In the Enchanted Forest before the first curse, The Evil Queen stumbles upon a wedding being held on land that is off limits on her palace grounds. She makes it clear that she does not tolerate this kind of intrusion, by pulling the heart out of the groom and crushing it in front of his bride, the families, and friends. Regina then noticed a flower on Daniel's grave, and spots Cora, who pays her a visit on the anniversary of Daniel's death. Cora says she is there to apologize and make things right, and that she wants to see Regina happy by finding her the love that Tinkerbell spoke of. But Regina, having been upset with Tinkerbell previously, says she'll believe it when she sees it. Later on, Cora heads to the bar to find Robin, where she learns from the Sheriff of Nottingham that Robin is a thief and is now married. This gives Cora the idea to make the sheriff the true love for her daughter, by conjuring up a tattoo that is similar to the one Robin Hood had, and dressing him up in clothing similar to Robin's. Unfortunately, Regina catches on to what Cora did when she notices the fake magical tattoo, and temporarily makes the lion tattoo come alive and attack him, to make the sheriff confess to Regina that Cora was hoping Regina would fall in love and have a child. Regina ties the sheriff upside-down above a boiling pot in the dungeon as punishment, but Cora uses her magic to send him home and confronts Regina over her actions. Realizing what Cora did, in order to have her conceive a child so she can have an heir to the kingdom, Regina decides to sacrifice her hopes to bear any children, by taking a potion that will leave her unable to do so, in order to "hurt" her mother and to prevent Cora from manipulating her. Despite Cora's explanation that all she really ever wanted was for her to be happy, a pained Regina tells her mother that she just doesn't want to hear it any more. Then, she tells Cora to return to Wonderland, and that she doesn't need her. 'Storybrooke' As Emma brings Lily back to Storybrooke, she is able to reunite her with Maleficent, while at the same time, Regina and Robin Hood must find a way to deal with Zelena, even if they can find a way to be together. During their get-together at Granny's, Lily asks her mother about what they are going to do about David and Mary Margaret, as she still has a grudge against them, but Maleficent states that she isn't up for revenge, and tries to persuade Lily to stay in Storybrooke, begging her to stay because she won't be able to return if she leaves, and because Maleficent would turn back into dust if she tried to leave town with Lily. However, Lily still decides on leaving town, so Maleficent approaches Mary Margaret and David for help. Hook reminds Gold that he will do whatever it takes to keep Emma from going dark, but as Isaac tells Mr. Gold that they need Emma in order to produce the ink needed for the quill since Emma has yet to succumb darkness. Hook then taunts Gold, saying he knows that each time he does a bad deed, his heart will grow darker, so he won't be able to do anything to stop Hook. After Hook leaves, Gold begins to falter, as his heart is growing darker, and he uses his magic to transport him and The Author to his shop to look up information on obtaining Blood Magic, in case they can't get Emma to turn dark. However, Gold's health is continuing to decline, due to his dying heart. Regina suddenly shows up, wanting Isaac's services since she was the one who wanted to find Isaac first, only to have Mr. Gold making an offer to Regina to help her find the magic ink for Isaac, to get both of their happy endings, displaying the magic quill. Regina, however, states that she'll find the magic ink on her own and get her happy ending by herself. Gold objects, saying that if his heart dies, "Rumplestiltskin" will die, along with all of his goodness, and warns her that she would not want to deal with a "Dark One" who is entirely evil. However, Regina is entirely unconcerned, saying that he is in no position to bargain, and takes Isaac and the quill with her, even as Gold passes out, due to his weakening heart. Back at her vault, Regina as she learns that the energies of Emma's impending darkness is needed to procure the substance. Isaac then tells Regina that he was working for Mr. Gold because he protected him. Regina then shows Isaac a picture of Regina being with Robin Hood; Isaac states that it was one of his "experimental writings," which he was planning to write about it in a separate book, but never got the chance, which gives Regina an idea. Regina approaches Lily after she walked out on her mother at the diner (after Maleficent refused to help Lily carry out her revenge plans, option to restart their life as mother and daughter), and tells Regina that she wants Mary Margaret and David dead. Regina tells Lily that most of her darkness came from Emma, and that she needed it to be all worked up, which Lily responds to by telling her to buzz off. Unable to reason with her, Regina gives up on attempting to explain her actions to her, and then cuts Lily's hand to acquire her blood in order to obtain a sample of the darkness in her and turns it into magic ink. Then, she smiles and disappears while quoting "Welcome to Storybrooke." After Regina leaves, Lily's eyes glow yellow and becomes reptilian, as she becomes consumed by rage. Shortly afterwards, Maleficent, Mary Margaret, and David later encounter Lily in her dragon form, but as Maleficent approaches her, Mary Margaret runs after Maleficent, convinced that she may not be safe around Lily. David shouts to Mary Margaret that Lily is out of control as she knocks Mary Margaret out, with Lily using her dragon flame to prevent David and Maleficent from reaching the unconscious Mary, before flying off. Emma shows up and immediately comes to her mother's aid, and uses her powers to heal her. Lily regresses to her human form, and Maleficent confronts Lily, giving Lily her baby rattle, which she never got the chance to give her. Lily claims that she destroys everything she touches ever since Snow White and Prince Charming put Emma's darkness in her, and that no one would want to be with her. Maleficent replies by saying that she wouldn't mind "a little darkness." As Maleficent convinces Lily to stay for a week to teach her some tricks, Emma finally forgives Mary Margaret and David for what they did. After completing the task of extracting Lily's blood, Regina and Isaac visit Zelena's cell at the Storybrooke Hospital and states that she plans to write an ending for Zelena, and vows to have her written out of the story. Her half-sister replies by saying that she has gotten to know about Cora through Regina, claiming that she was exactly like Cora. As the magic ink is drying, Regina tells Zelena that Cora wasn't a better mother, and that she had wronged them both, as Robin Hood comes in. As Regina decides to spare Zelena for now, albeit locked up, this results in Regina's decision that she no longer needs The Author to find her happy ending. This gives Isaac the opportunity to write his way out of the hospital, and leaves a message that indicates a plan to write a new story that could change destiny. Isaac rendezvous with Mr. Gold at his shop, where upon meeting up with him, Isaac is instructed to start writing a new story in which villains win, in a new book, aptly titled Heroes and Villains, but Isaac already has a new chapter in store for everyone involved, beginning with the phrase, "Once Upon A Time..." 'In the Land Without Magic' At the bar in New York City, Regina discusses with Robin, who had moved on with Zelena because she's pregnant with his child, and because he didn't realize until recently that "Marian" was Zelena in disguise. Robin tells Regina that Roland won't understand where his mother had gone, and Robin feels heartbroken to have lost his beloved Marian, because Zelena killed her back in the Enchanted Forest. As a result, Regina agrees to use a forgetting potion on Roland to make him forget about the time he spent with "Marian" after she was brought to Storybrooke by Emma Swan, so he won't have to go through the pain of losing his mother again. At Neal's apartment, Emma holds the dreamcatcher and tells Lily about Neal's having lived in the place and tells her that Zelena was responsible for his death. Zelena, who heard the conversation, feels the baby kick in her tummy, and taunts her by telling her not to trouble an "expectant mother." Regina and Robin arrive back at the apartment, and tells Emma, Lily, and Zelena to pack up because, "We're going to Storybrooke tonight." Emma drives her bug with Lily and Zelena, while Regina drives Robin's black minivan with Roland. Cast Starring *Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard *Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan *Lana Parrilla as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills *Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David Nolan/Prince James *Emilie de Ravin as Belle *Colin O'Donoghue as Hook *Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills *Michael Socha as Will Scarlet *Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold Guest Starring *Kristin Bauer van Straten as Maleficent *Rebecca Mader as The Wicked Witch/Zelena *Sean Maguire as Robin Hood *Patrick Fischler as The Author/Isaac Heller *Agnes Bruckner as Lily *Barbara Hershey as The Queen of Hearts/Cora *Tony Perez as Prince Henry *Wil Traval as Sheriff of Nottingham *Ingrid Torrance as Nurse Ratched Trivia Production Notes= *The title card features Lily under her dragon form. *The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on March 4, 2015. *It is Edward Kitsis who got the idea for the title of this episode. *Emilie de Ravin was originally set to appear in the episode, but her scenes were cut. However, she is still present in an official promotional photo from this episode. *The original opening scene was supposed to be the one with Regina and Robin Hood at the bar, but the editing room decided it was much more exciting to begin with The Evil Queen. *Kylee Bush, who played the groom's bride, whose wedding The Evil Queen interrupted, is one of Michael Coleman's acting students. *The bar where Regina and Robin are at the beginning of the episode is supposed to be the same bar where Emma and Neal were in in "Manhattan". However, the real bar was not available for the shooting, so another bar has been faked to look like the original bar. *The little exchange between Emma and Zelena in Neal's apartment in the beginning of the episode, was written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis. *Beverley Elliott's daughter Sally and her friend Freya were background performers during one of the diner scenes. *The scene with Isaac and Mr. Gold at Granny's Diner, was originally supposed to end with them walking out of the building, but it was changed into Gold teleporting them away instead. *Originally, the scene where Emma and Regina are coming back with Zelena, Robin, Roland and Lily was set to happen at the town line, sort of "pre-dawn, misty, and everybody meeting up almost in slow-motion". Because of production issues, it had to be moved to daytime, to the center of Storybrooke. *Originally, the scene between Regina and Isaac at the Heart Vault was set to happen in the backroom of Any Given Sundae. The original set had a big mirror in it, and when Regina teleported herself and Isaac to the ice cream store, she was going to tell him not to hide where there was a giant mirror, because Regina could see him through it. But the set was unavailable, so the scene was moved to the Heart Vault. *For the scene where Cora comes to Regina with news about her "soulmate", Prince Henry was originally going to put papers in front of Regina to sign. Someone came up with the idea of him brushing her hair instead. *The Evil Queen's date with the Sheriff of Nottingham was originally set out in the same meadow where Regina interrupted the wedding. Halfway through the date, the Sheriff would notice the rice that was spilled when Regina killed the groom, and say, "Is there rice in this grass?". However, they could not get that set, so the scene was moved to the apple tree instead. *For her date with the Sheriff, Lana Parrilla wanted Regina to have a young Cora look and essence, with the way she moved and leaned, and styled her hair. She asked the hair stylist to make her look like Rose McGowan, who plays young Cora on the show. *For the sequence where the Sheriff's fake lion tattoo comes to life and crawls under his shirt, the special effects were done with a tube taped along Wil Traval's body, which went up his arm, around his neck and down the other arm. A crew member pulled an object on a string, to make his shirt ripple. *A white swan flies across the horizon as Emma and Hook look out onto the bay. *The scenes where Regina takes out her anger on her mother for setting her up with the wrong soulmate, was originally written as one, single, long sequence. It was edited into several scenes in post-production. *The scene where Regina decides to spare Zelena's life, was originally filmed with Robin staying in the hallway outside her cell listening. Regina then went out to him after finishing her story about Cora. It was changed to Robin entering the cell during their conversation. |-|Goofs= *When Emma and the others arrive in Storybrooke, in the first shot of the scene, on the left side of the screen, there is a sign that says "Steveston Museum and Visitor Centre". *When everyone arrives in Storybrooke, the license plate on a car parked outside the diner is 40F5TH, which is the same as Regina's in "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree", Jim's in "What Happened to Frederick", a car next to August's motorcycle in "The Return" and Archie's license plate in "We Are Both". |-|Other Notes= FILMING LOCATIONS *The scene where Lily, as a dragon, attacks Mary Margaret and David, was filmed in the North 40 Park Reserve in Delta, British Columbia.